Hilary Boulding, Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music

ROYAL WELSH COLLEGE
OF MUSIC & DRAMA
COLEG BRENHINOL
CERDD A DRAMA CYMRU
+44 (O) 29 2034 2854
W: www.rwcmd.ac.uk
Castle Grounds
Cathays Park
Maes y Castell
Cardiff
Caerdydd
Tel/Ff6n: (029) 2039 1334
CF]O 3ER
CF]O 3ER
hilary. bou lding@ rwcmd.ac. uk
Parc Cathays
T..
Drama Association of Wales Members
3'd
April 2014
Dear Member of the Drama Association of Wales,
to update you on the plans to relocate the lending library of the Drama Association
Wales to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. ln the last few days, the collection was boxed
up and moved out of its former home at The Maltings and into temporary premises where there is
space to conduct a comprehensive audit and review of the collection. This is the first step in a
process that will culminate in a re-launch of the lending library later this year.
I
am writing
I
am writing to set out the key steps to be achieved in the next few months and to provide
information about how the library is anticipated to work in the future.
ln the first instance, l'd like to express my sincere gratitude to the staff and volunteers at the DAW. lt
has been a pleasure to work with them over the past months; their knowledge of the library and
their commitment to maintaining access to it has been at the centre of our discussions for the future
conservation and operation of this much cherished resource.
Over the coming months, the following programme of work will be undertaken:
Audit and transfer
Undertake a full audit of the DAW library. This has begun and is being conducted by a small
team of professional librarians with specialist knowledge. The volumes will be sorted into 3
categoriqs:
Play
text lending library
Research materials
Surplus
-
badly damaged books, those with no research value and those which should not
form part of the new lending library
Complete the transfer of the research volumes to appropriate institutions with the assistance
of an Advisory Group of suitably qualified librarians and academics
of Music & Drama Ltd
Part of the University of Glamorgan Group
Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru Cyf
Rhan o GrWp Prifysgol Morgannwg
Royal Welsh College
Registered in Wales & England 6013744
Cofrestrwd yng Nghymru a Lloegr 6013744
Registered charity 1139282
Elusen cofrestredig 1139282
National Conservatoire of Wales
conseruatoire Cenedlaethol cYmru
Patron; HRH The Prince of Wales
Noddwr: EUB Tywysog Cymru
.
Complete the transfer of the lending library to RWCMD
.
Dispose of the surplus volumes in an appropriate manner: good copies of surplus scripts will
be returned to DAW for disposal to the benefit of its members.
lncorporation & promotion
o
lncorporate the play texts and other key volumes into the RWCMD Library. This
is
anticipated to involve:
Creation of catalogue entries
Repair of damaged volumes
Bar coding of all volumes
Establishment of display, storage and retrieval systems
.
Notify current users of timescales and processes for access to the Library following its
reopening
o
Promote and launch the new Collection to existing and new users.
It is our ambition to formally re-launch the library in September 2OL4, after the summer break. We
aim to do a 'soft' opening for members only in the weeks before that - we are targeting mid-June for
that - so that we can test out our arrangements and iron out any operational issues before the library
officially goes 'live'to the public. I will keep you in touch with progress - rest assured that we are
keen
to reopen to members
I look forward
as soon as
the collection can be made accessible.
to updating all members over the next few months
Yours sincerely,
fi,
,? ts**uJ\
Hilary Boulding
Principal
as
work progresses.